Majority of Remaining Texas Abortion Clinics Forced to Shut Down in Wake of New Law

There were just 21 clinics left where women could go and safely terminate a pregnancy in Texas, a state with a projected population of over 27 million people, roughly 50 percent of them female, stretching across 261,232 square miles. And now, after a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday that they would allow even more restrictions on the legal medical procedure—the same restrictions that Texas State Senator and gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis fought to prevent in a marathon filibuster last year—only eight clinics will remain to serve state with more than 13 million women, 5.4 million of whom are of reproductive age, according to The New York Times. The law now requires that Texas abortion clinics meet ambulatory surgical requirements, meaning that they must be run more like hospitals and have the facilities to match. It's an expensive upgrade most clinics can't afford and certainly can't make happen overnight—hence the sweeping shut-downs on Thursday. Opponents of the legislation have also called it unnecessary: An abortion in the first trimester is "one of the safest medical procedures," according to the Guttmacher Institute, with less than .05 percent resulting in complications that might require treatment at a hospital. The number of abortion

The law now requires that Texas abortion clinics meet ambulatory surgical requirements, meaning that they must be run more like hospitals and have the facilities to match. It's an expensive upgrade most clinics can't afford and certainly can't make happen overnight—hence the sweeping shut-downs on Thursday. Opponents of the legislation have also called it unnecessary: An abortion in the first trimester is "one of the safest medical procedures," according to the Guttmacher Institute, with less than .05 percent resulting in complications that might require treatment at a hospital. The number of abortion clinics had already been cut in half in 2013, when doctors performing the procedure were required to have admitting privileges to a hospital—not easy in a state where many hospitals are religiously affiliated.

As a result of the court's decision, the remaining clinics are all in urban areas, and more than one million women will have to travel at least 300 miles to have an abortion, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights. This specifically hurts lower-income women, who can potentially be limited in their ability to pay for travel, gas, and possibly lodging in order to have an abortion in the state. It also can mean more time off work to make the trip to and from the clinic, as well as additional child care for women who already have children. In other words, this new law makes it much more difficult for all women, but specifically poor women, to terminate a pregnancy. This is particularly upsetting in light of a new report by Ibis Reproductive Health and the Center for Reproductive Rights, which found that states with the strictest anti-abortion laws do the least to support women's and children's health.

Reince Priebus, chairman for the Republican National Committee, vaguely spoke on NBC's Meet the Press about the anti-abortion law that shuttered many of Texas' clinics. According to the* Huffington Post*, Priebus said, "The issue for us is only one thing, and that's whether you ought to use taxpayer money to fund abortion." That might have made sense if the new law had anything to do with taxpayer dollars, but it doesn't. A spokesperson for the RNC later said that Priebus was talking about "where the party stands on the broader issue." Though as noted above, the argument for upholding the law was to supposedly protect women, not tax dollars. You can watch the clip here:

The decision is expected to be appealed. Stephanie Toti, senior counsel for the Center for Reproductive Rights, told the Huffington Post that the case could reach the U.S. Supreme Court, setting the stage for a battle over women's reproductive health not seen in two decades. In the meantime, abortion providers in Texas are now dealing with dozens of women who have suddenly had their abortions canceled. Amy Hagstrom-Miller, founder and CEO of the clinic Whole Woman's Health, said, "I'm trying to figure out a way to stay open as a type of safe house so that women in the community can still come to get accurate information, medical screenings, and help to travel wherever they can to be able to have an abortion.... It feels like an underground railroad, just for a legal service that's supposedly protected by the Constitution," Hagstrom-Miller tells Bloomberg.